A Yogscast Tale of Science and Magic
by Chesscakecheese
Summary: The developing relationship between the Yogscast characters Lividcoffee/Duncan and Nanosounds/Kim - more characters to follow (maybe). So yeah, Nanocoffee / Lividsounds / Dunkim / Lalnasounds (or whatever you want to call it). WARNING - may contain fluff :)
1. A Peaceful Night

The scientist looked at the purple girl beside him and chuckled slightly. She was trying hard to concentrate on the elements in her arcane workbench, studying how to infuse them together, and was purposely ignoring him. It was almost night-time and he was worried she was going to overwork herself; but after the previous joke about how Satan could have combined the elements faster, which Kim had taken to heart, she had refused to stop all day.

"Kim…" he started, but was cut off from an angry wave of her hand, as she didn't even turn around to acknowledge him. Duncan could tell she was still annoyed at him, but he couldn't stop laughing – seeing the small purple girl angry made him laugh… how could someone that small ever feel threatening to him?

"Kim…" he tried again, but was once more cut across by Kim's angry sigh.

"I can't find this stupid element which you mix with silver. And no, I do not want you to tell me what it is because I am perfectly capable of adding more… sparkly… stuff…" Kim trailed off as she sneaked a glance at Duncan with a slight smile on her face as she realised he was trying not to laugh at her.

"It's not funny, Duncan!" she said angrily, despite the smile on her face. Turning around once more to hide this, she started to focus on her crafting and mumbled for Duncan to leave her.

Duncan laughed at her angry expression and made a hastened exit after she picked up her wand and set it casually to 'fire' . Travelling up the elevator, he opened the door and headed outside of Panda Labs. The sign titled "Save us from the taint" was still there, which caused Duncan's mood to drop slightly. He knew it was selfish but now he was also infected with the taint, he was more worried about Kim... and therefore himself. His thought process behind this was if the taint became worse for him faster than it did for Kim, there'd be no hope for her – she needed him to find a cure.

Duncan headed down towards the alter, intent on seeing Sir Ramsey, but paused as he noticed the Silverwood Tree was in bloom and shimmering slightly in the moonlight appearing before him as the sun set behind Panda Labs. He briefly stopped for a moment and then headed towards the tree, the leaves turning in a slight breeze. Although the night was cold, Duncan was too preoccupied with his thoughts to notice it – Christmas was approaching and he hadn't even had time to appreciate it might snow.

He smiled as he remembered how Kim had expressed how she had wanted there to be snow soon – although Duncan wouldn't have put it past her if she had a ritual to do so, seeing as she could now summon storms. A lot of people had told Duncan that he should be keeping an eye on Kim and that it might be unwise to let her study magic and science together – he was ignoring their comments however. Kim was a free spirit – it was one of the reasons why he loved her.

Duncan reached the tree and sat down, leaning his back against its trunk. He stared ahead and watched the moon appear and cast its reflection upon the slightly rippling waters, which otherwise looked real. One day he might actually be able to walk on moonlight – but he'd want Kim to be there when it happened. And it wouldn't happen if she was overcome by the taint along with him.

Duncan leaned back and closed his eyes. He didn't really believe in love, but he couldn't deny the strong feelings he had for Kim – but he had no idea what they were. He was a scientist, and taking on an apprentice was natural, so what he and Kim were, in terms of working relationships, was natural too. Duncan shook his head to himself – logic didn't work with anything to do with Kim, even trying to figure this out. He smiled at this thought before frowning to himself.

_Why is it I can understand beauty, life, science and magic, but not love? _Duncan wondered to himself as he opened his eyes and started to notice all the wonders the night held as he heard both the silence of the waters and the flames of Panda Labs before and behind him. Noting how high the moon had risen, he realised how late it was and decided he should really try to force Kim to go to bed with him.

Blushing, even though there was no one around who could hear his thoughts and how strangely they were phrased, despite his innocent intentions, Duncan picked himself up and awkwardly patted one of the branches of the tree before making his way back to Panda Labs, briefly glancing over to check the rest of the animals were alright before heading off.

"Kim?" Duncan called as he entered the house to be greeted by silence. Confused, but not worried, he headed down the elevator down to the bottom floor; jars were stacked up and piled in different areas. "Kim?" he called again, briefly worrying before hearing a slight noise behind a section of the jars. As he raised his head to glance around them, he found Satan anxiously hovering beside Kim, clearly unsure of what to do, as she lay on the floor fast asleep. Duncan smiled and felt his heart rate go back to a steady pulse, watching Kim sleep with a slight frown on her face. He moved over to the arcane bench and realised that she had managed to make the element she had wanted… and a few other surprise ones at that. Duncan's appreciation was cut short by the sound of Satan's shuffling as he stopped hovering near Kim and went to the purple lighted corridor again – he spent most of his time pacing that corridor for some reason. Duncan crept towards Kim and gently picked her up, carrying her towards the elevator and taking her up to the bedroom.

After laying her carefully on her bed, Duncan tucked his covers around her so she wouldn't get cold in the night, and decided that the sofa would be a comfier place to sleep that night – he was still embarrassed by his previous thoughts of how his mind had phrased something so simple as making sure Kim slept well into something more… well, something more. He crept on the sofa and faced away from her deliberately so he wouldn't be tempted to watch her sleep, convincing himself that it was coincidental that the worry line on her face had vanished as soon as he had picked her up. However, he could still hear her soft sighing as she breathed, and continued to listen to every breath until the night was almost over.

Duncan suddenly realised, as the beginnings of the light began to shine through the window, that he could no longer hear Kim's breathing and stiffened. He relaxed as he heard Kim shuffling about however, and snuggled deeper into the sofa, determined to at least get a few hours' sleep before the work of the morning began.

"Duncan?" Kim's voice questioned sleepily as he heard her sit up in her bed, stretching slightly.

"I'm here, Kim…" Duncan replied softly, raising an arm above the sofa so she could see where he was. He almost felt Kim instantly fall back asleep as she lay back down, to sleepy to question why Duncan was sleeping on the sofa.

"Thanks Duncan…" Kim muttered and resumed sleeping after a moment or so.

Duncan knew he should say 'You're welcome' or something along those lines, but the temptation was too great as he propped his head up on one hand and peered over at the peaceful image of Kim sleeping. He couldn't explain it as he repeated "I'm here, Kim…" instead before putting his head back on the sofa and falling asleep immediately.

In her sleep, Kim smiled.


	2. The Morning After

Duncan was in a slightly grumpy mood. That was one of the first things Kim realised when she bounded down with her usual cheerful "Good morning!" and instead of a smile and a "Morning" back, she had received a slight glare and a nod of the head from across the room. She thought she recalled him sleeping on the sofa… but she couldn't think why. She shrugged to herself; either way, it was clear he hadn't slept well. She had slept very well; she remembered having an odd dream herself, but couldn't actually recall it.

"So, er, Duncan – what are we going to do today?" She asked enthusiastically, waiting for him to smile and motion to the elevator where some hidden surprise would be waiting to be revealed and explained to her which would benefit them in Hat Films destruction in some way.

"You can do some magic and witchcraft if you want…" Duncan muttered as he wandered over the elevator and disappeared out of sight. Kim frowned at his tone and followed him down. After checking the floors below, she realised that he must have taken the secret door as a short cut to her witches hut. Smiling, she ran out and bounded into her hut, only for her face to fall as she realised no one was there.

"Kim?" Duncan's voice drifted towards her as she spun around and saw him watching her as he peered around the altar at her.

"What are you doing there?" she asked, slightly baffled by his behaviour. She walked towards him and noticed the dark lines beneath his eyes. She concluded that he must not have had much sleep last night…

Duncan stepped out from behind the altar, dragging his backpack from behind it and slinging it across his back, stumbling slightly. "I, er, need to go mining for some stuff so … you should stay here and practice something…" Duncan phrased awkwardly, noting how Kim tilted her head and crossed her arms, frowning.

"Duncan. What is the matter with you?" She demanded, her face a mix between worry and slight anger. "And if there's a mining trip then I want to come too…" she added before Duncan cut across her.

"I need to go mining for certain stuff and someone needs to look after the animals whilst I'm gone – do you really trust me with them?" Duncan demanded, motioning to the force-field and the painful incident that had happened a few weeks ago. He rubbed his forehead and wrinkled his eyes slightly in pain at the headache he had. "And I'm fine, Kim." He inwardly winced at how horrible he sounded, the pain in his forehead spiking every few seconds. After the sleepless night he had risen off the sofa with a temperature; Kim didn't need to know that though.

"Seriously, what time did you get to bed last night? You look awful – you're not going anywhere." Kim insisted as she marched towards him; Duncan hastily backed away from her.

"Seriously Kim, I'm fine! I have a headache because I didn't sleep well last night – I only got a few hours. We're low on resources and someone needs to get them and I'm not letting you go on your own!" Duncan shouted, turning away from Kim and preparing to use his jet pack to go to where he had mapped out the mine this morning.

"Then let me come with you." Kim's anger in her voice made Duncan stop and unwillingly turn around.

"What are you talking about Kim? Stay and do something useful." He spat out at her, hating himself more every second. Kim raised herself to her full height and pointed a finger at Duncan. At that moment in time she ignored all of the hateful comments she was receiving; it was her turn to start to get angry.

"Either take me with you so that I can keep an eye on you and make sure you don't collapse or get killed by any monsters, or stay and let me look after you until you're better. You're pale, you're slightly shaking and you're in no position to do anything, so really, that's me saying that... DUNCAN!"

Duncan shot up into the air using his jet pack, intent on flying off as Kim shot up after him – but a wave of nausea hit him and he swerved in the air, heading towards the ground.

"Duncan!" Kim's voice cried out as he started hurtling towards the ground. Duncan managed to blast his jetpack towards the ground as he landed but smashed his head against the altar – he dimly watched Kim land and run towards him as he fell unconscious, a slightly purple blur running towards him.

…

Kim heaved Duncan onto the sofa and sat down heavily beside him, panting slightly. She had rushed inside and grabbed the necessarily materials to clean and bandage his head, had left his backpack in her hut and then dragged Duncan up to the house… all of this had taken a lot of effort and strength; and trying to carry someone a lot heavier than you was hard.

Sighing, she used the device they had christened the 'ipad' and took out some blankets and threw them over him. As she did so she had a sudden feeling of déjà vu and recalled Duncan tucking her into her bed last night. Highly confused, Kim placed the 'ipad' down and closed her eyes, head in her hands, as she struggled to remember the details of last night. She remembered she was working on some silver substance before then…

Kim frowned as she remembered someone carrying her upstairs to her bed – that must have been Duncan. He had tucked her into bed and then gone to the couch and disappeared out of sight; so he had slept on the sofa then. She had woken up near morning and he had still been awake; did he not sleep at all then? Kim frowned as she struggled to remember the fragments of sleepy memory and remembered he had said something to her… she opened her eyes and looked at the sleeping scientist beside her and felt her fragments of the morning slip away and wondered what he had said. She briefly recalled her dream where Duncan had hurt himself in some way and she had had to get Hannah to help whilst there were flying marshmallows. She chuckled to herself at how her dream was now slightly accurate.

Watching Duncan resting was a weird sight. He was always busy and Kim slept so soundly that she never really noticed when he was asleep but now… Kim hesitantly asked "Dunc?" to check if he was awake – the scientist made no reaction to her words. She sighed and rested her hand on his head for a brief second, a way of quietly telling him that she was there. With that, she slowly moved off the sofa, careful not to disturb him, and crept down the stairs, deciding that she would make them both some fresh soup so cheer them up.

She paused for a second on the stairs and recalled how upset he had been when speaking to her – but after another moment she quickly blamed it on him being ill. She knew how she got annoyed when she was sick or tired; and she never wanted to be both. _Poor Duncan…_ she thought to herself and noisily headed back up the stairs before remembering she was trying to be quiet. She poked her head into the room and smiled to see him still sleeping soundly. Without knowing why she felt the need to whisper to him, promising "I'm here… and I'm going to look after you." Humming slightly under her breath, she made her way down the stairs and started to check the fridge and 'ipad' for ingredients.

Upstairs, Duncan opened his eyes exhaustedly for a few moments to check Kim had truly gone this time. Although he felt guilty about his shouting and how ill he was and letting her to look after him, he couldn't help as he slightly smiled and murmured back "Ditto."


	3. Mistakes and Pages

Duncan opened his eyes and rolled out of his bed, stretching his arms behind him. Kim had insisted he had taken a few days off to recover and, whilst he was frequently bored when she wasn't with him, he had managed to sleep and his temperature had gone down. Now that he was better though, panic returned to him – he had been trying to use the mining trip as an excuse to take a break from Kim for a while… and instead it had just drawn them closer. He leaned back on top of the covers and closed his eyes, smiling at the memory of Kim clumsily pouring soup down his front as she had tried to make him eat some; it had burnt him slightly but it was nice knowing, in one way or another, that she cared.

"DUNCAN!" Kim's voice echoed slightly around the house as he heard her use the elevator to go up to the bedroom. As she saw him on the bed she grinned and held out some soup. Duncan was actually pretty sure he would get ill again if he kept living on soup but he didn't have the heart to tell her.

"Thanks Kim!" he replied cheerfully, letting the smile on her face appear on his. Somehow this caused Kim's smile to widen slightly as she carefully made her way over with the soup, holding it out to him; as she handed the bowl to him, her hand slightly brushed over Duncan's hand.

CRASH.

Kim jumped back in surprise as Duncan dropped the bowl onto the floor, shaking his head slightly. "Geesh, Duncan, what was that?" she complained as she ran downstairs to get a towel to mop it up. Duncan lifted his hand to his face and studied it carefully – he had felt the most bizarre electric shock of his life shot through his hand when Kim had passed him the soup. As Kim entered the room looking slightly sulky however, Duncan decided not to mention it.

"Sorry, Kim – it was too hot for me to hold…" he trailed off, edging around her as she focussed on cleaning up the rest of the soup. "I'm just going to get some bread out or something, don't worry!" Duncan added cheerfully as he used the elevator and quickly disappeared out of sight. Kim sighed to herself. Usually it was her dropping things…

Duncan quickly made his way down to the base floor and started to charge up his wand – he had been meaning to do so for the last few days but being ill had made him a bit more forgetful. Also, speaking of forgetful…

Duncan allowed his mind to wander back upstairs to where Kim might still be clearing up the soup, next to his bed… and suddenly felt a wave of fear crash over him. He hadn't worried about it until this moment as he had completely forgotten but his bed side table had started to bulge; the item he was hiding had grown too large, and he needed to throw away some of the rubbish concealing it. However, he couldn't throw that thing away… Duncan shuddered at the thought of the first few pages. It was how he coped before Kim arrived… writing everything down and locking it away. He had promised himself he would never forget the events of _that _day – but that didn't mean he had to look over what he had written; his thoughts turned as dark as the nightmares he had on occasion…

"DUNCAN!" Kim's voice yelled out again and Duncan snapped out of his daydream. _There has to be a reasonable explanation for how someone so annoying can be so important to me… _he thought bitterly as Kim glared at him, although he had to admit to himself that he had no idea how that could be.

"Duncan, there's no copper left! Or tin. Or anything!" Kim whirled her arms about in a slightly annoyed fashion. "We've even ran out of cobblestone!" Duncan laughed at the expression on Kim's face, instantly cheering up, causing the tiny person in front of him to narrow her eyes further. "I'm serious Duncan; we need to go on a mining trip."

"Yeah, we need more materials – I've mapped out an area, I was just about to re-pack equipment for it; will you do me a favour though?" Duncan questioned Kim, the tone in his voice causing her to tilt her head at him curiously.

"Hm? Yes Duncan?" she inquired, suspicion lacing her voice slightly.

"I could really do with a little break from Panda Labs; I've been stuck here for the last few days with nothing to do so would you please look after everything for me whilst I go mining? I promise I won't be long and that I'll be fine!" he added hastily as Kim looked slightly crestfallen. This was his chance to devise a plan to deal with all the problems he was having lately…

"Fine, then. Don't hurt yourself though…" she muttered with a playful smile as she walked with him out of Panda Labs and past the witches hut. Duncan noticed a dent where he had collided into it a few days previously and frowned.

"Yeah, don't worry about that…" Kim smiled, noticing Duncan's frown. "If you collect some wood too then it'll be fine and you and I can repair it together, right?" Kim grinned up at Duncan, completely unaware of her final words echoing in Duncan's head.

"Yeah, it'll be fine… I'll be gone a 3 or 4 days tops, alright…?" Duncan suddenly felt a wave of sadness as he started his jetpack and glanced back at Kim, who was cheerfully waving goodbye. Looking at her, and the purple taint that covered most of her body, he called through the noise of the jetpack "… when I get back, we're going to save you from the taint Kim! I promise!" Kim's eyes widened slightly but she nodded, still smiling as Duncan shot off into the sky and out of sight.

Kim breathed a sigh of relief once he was gone – between the frantic scavenge for materials and things to do whilst Duncan was ill, looking after the animals and then the task of looking after Duncan himself, Panda Labs was now quite disorganised. Kim rolled up her sleeves and put her hands on her hips, glaring at the messy weeds and overgrown flowers spreading around the animals' habitat; even the animals seemed to sense her mood, edging away from her as she marched to her hut and pulled out some gardening tools. _Duncan is going to be very surprised when he gets back… _she thought as she started attacking the weeds as the sun continued to rise in the sky.

…

Kim collapsed on her bed and moaned at her aching hands and back. It had taken the whole day to clear and sort out everything around Panda Labs – she had even flown up to the missiles to see if she could tidy up some of Duncan's redstone trails (on a closer inspection, however, she had decided not to interfere.) She rolled over on her side and looked at Duncan's empty messy bed beside her.

"So I'm really alone for a while…" she said to herself thoughtfully as the sun started to set behind her. The light seemed to illuminate Duncan's side of the room, a silent confirmation of what she had said. However, as the light fell on the table beside Duncan's bed, Kim realised that the drawer wasn't shut properly. Knowing that Duncan's bedside table, whilst forbidden to enter, would be very messy, Kim struggled with her conscience and desire to organise for a further few minutes before deciding she would open it and sort it out so, at the very least, the drawer would be able to close properly.

Kim leapt up and shuffled over to the drawer and slowly opened it, holding her breath, only to release it in utter disappointment and horror and she discovered a few old apples and various pieces of rubbish were laid on top. _Well, I'll just rearrange these…_ she thought as she moved the apples to the back. As she cleared them aside, she noticed half a page sticking up against the side and leading underneath the base of the drawer; as she pulled at it, the whole of the base of the drawer shifted slightly, revealing a secret panel.

Kim knew she should replace everything instantly and that Duncan would never forgive her if she ruined something important to him, but her curiosity got the better of her – he never kept secrets from her… and yet, this was evidently something very secret. Lifting up the hidden compartment, she saw a large diary, stuffed to the brim of extra pages from the front to the back. Shakily, she pulled it out and sat on Duncan's bed and examined it, her heart falling as she noticed it had an enchanted lock on it. As she turned it over in her hands however, it slipped through her grasp and fell against the floor, causing a few of the pages to fall out; she froze in terror, forgetting that Duncan wouldn't be around to tell her off.

Picking up the book with panic speeding her actions, she quickly shoved it back into the drawer, closed the lid of the false base and messed up the rubbish on top, bringing the apples to the front again. As she shut it, she realised that the drawer now shut completely and, although she struggled slightly with her conscience, she rearranged one of the apples to wedge against it slightly, causing the drawer to be unable to shut completely. She breathed a sigh of relief and then stared at the pages on the floor – she couldn't put them back in the book as she couldn't break the lock, and she couldn't leave them in the drawer as it would appear too obvious that they hadn't merely fallen out. She would just have to hide them and hope Duncan didn't notice...

As she picked them up, she noticed something strange – Duncan's handwriting, which was usually quite large and scruffy, was small and… less scruffy. At a further peek, she realised that it also had a date etched into the top of it, too smudged to make out, and that it wasn't something Duncan had written in the last few weeks; it seemed much older. However, Kim's eyes widened and her heart began to pound as she read the topic written underneath it; this was it, this was Duncan's secret – his past.

Forgetting about anything else, Kim walked over to the couch and curled up slightly, eyes locked as she began to read the diary entry captioned: "Nuclear Device".


	4. Truths Untold

[**Editor's Note** - **Duncan's journal entries below are basically re-written versions of what he said in Duncan's Tekkit episode when he sets up the nuke at Blackrock Stronghold, and Rythian's Tekkit Rebirth episode where Zoey visits him and Duncan traps Rythian; I DO NOT OWN THE EVENTS THAT HAPPEN (a.k.a I didn't come up with them obviously - they are from the actual series) ... that's just in case someone says "You've used the plot from episode blah from blah" etc - for my story to progress, you need to know this past so I'm just providing a brief summary in the form of diary entries. Hope that's okay with you readers - leave a comment / review if you have anything you want to say about the story (hopefully nice things) and... yup. sorry for bringing up bad memories of the old server in this chapter...]**

**[P.S. Apologises for making you read the wall of text above ^ - hope you enjoy the next section of the story!]**

Kim looked at the page in front of her, full of wonder. "Nuclear Device" sounded like he had built some nukes in the past for some occasion; no wonder he knew so much about how to build the rockets! Kim noticed she was squinting as the page and looking around her, noticed the room was only lit by the last rays of sunlight – lighting a candle, she propped it on her bedside table and, after snuggling under the covers as if it was a bed time story, she began to read:

_I've been building a lot of bits and pieces at the moment (basic machines really) and I was going to build the cannon today but… I had another idea. I am going to build something which will stop Rythian's warmongering; I have a plan. I'm going to build a small force field containing a nuke… and I'm going to put it under his base. I'll have the detonator – he won't be able to stop me. I can set it off whenever I like, and he won't be able to stop me. _

Kim paused. Rythian… she had heard that name mentioned before, but only in whispers. Was this why no one talked about him? Why she hadn't heard anything other than a name? And why did Duncan want to blow up his base?

_That doesn't mean I am going to blow up his base _(…"Good…" Kim breathed before reading on…)_ – that's not my intention at all… I just have the power to do so if he wants to attack me… If he wants to keep the peace, then I will aim to keep the peace… I'll power the force field using generators and feed them coal or something; something to allow the force field to never run out of power._

Kim skipped the next few paragraphs – there wasn't anything of interest in them when he was describing what he was making. She started resumed reading properly when he described arriving at Rythian's base…

_Huh. Wow. I flew over to his "castle" (compared to mine, it's highly pathetic)… it's overgrown and unclean… there are cobwebs everywhere; maybe it should be nuked after all._

_I want him to know that he is unable to stop me. I am more powerful than him. That whatever he does and whatever he tries to do, I will always be a step beyond him…_

Kim paused. Duncan was writing quite… darkly. As if he was obsessed with power. She quickly turned the page over and carried on scanning the words….

_No amount of magic or science can get through a force field; I turned it on and it was impossible for me to get out. I built a large area and cleared it out, just so that they'd be able to see it – so that when they found it, they'd know it was useless. If the nuke goes off in the force field, it would be contained – but I quickly set up a system that when I activate the nuke, it will turn off. Just as long as Rythian can see it; I don't want to ruin anything I don't have to, I just want to make sure that I'm safe. Three nukes safe… Boom. Boom. Boom._

Kim read on in horror at the bluntness of Duncan's writing. Surely even it was for his safety, as he stated, surely he wouldn't take such delight at this deliberate unprovoked attack…?

_I went back to the base and picked up some teleport blocks so I could get out of the force field once I set it off – as I arrived and made my way to where I had set up the nukes, I heard something. Rythian. _

_I heard Rythian arrive at the base and panicked briefly, trying to test out the system; luckily he left fairly quickly… but the system worked. I checked everything was working and Rythian returned upstairs. I paused as I was about to place them… I was terrified. One… two… three… I teleported out, and destroyed the remote access… if Rythian holds me at gunpoint, or threatens to kill me, there is still nothing I can do. The only way to turn off that force field is to detonate the nukes. _

_This will stop Rythian from the war. This will keep me safe. There is no way back now._

Kim reached the end of the page and laid it beside her, her hands shaking slightly. She didn't know why, but she felt unbelievably scared. Duncan had set up a nuke a while back under someone's base… just so he would be safe? What happens if he had accidently sat on the detonator?! Kim thought about how careless Duncan could be before realising why she felt so scared – the Duncan who was writing this was a different Duncan from the one she knew. Taking the next page, she realised it wasn't the beginning of an entry, and was halfway through; nevertheless she read on:

_I was working and I heard a voice ask "Hello? It's Zoey and her dinosaur!" so naturally I was instantly suspicious; Rythian had probably sent her to do something to me… however, she promised she was there on neutral terms and for some reason… I believed her. I can't explain it – the optimism in her tone and her trusting smile made me believe her. I gave her some of brew I had on me and greeted them suspiciously… and was amazed to discover that she had left Rythian… for science! Science! Even Rythian's apprentice (well, former apprentice apparently) could appreciate that magic and science could be used in harmony. She asked for weapons to defend herself… of course, I wasn't going to say no to someone needing help. She was eager to learn how to function the scientific equipment I had and was constantly wandering around and investigating different chests; I didn't mind her messing up the chests; they were always organised. _

Kim couldn't help but laugh. Duncan's chests were always organised? She was the one who organised them these days…

_I gave her a musket and bullets… well; actually, I gave her dinosaur a musket and bullets._

"What?" Kim asked out loud in disbelief. There had actually been a… dinosaur? She thought that had been code for something. Just how old was this entry?! Skipping ahead slightly, she continued:

_She was dismayed to discover her bat box stored hardly any power in comparison to mine. I briefly showed her how the force field worked around my castle; she seemed very curious about it and for a brief moment I was worried that she had discovered the nuke and that was why she was asking… but I didn't want to mention it – I was glad of the company, and when she suggested that she could come back for lessons whilst staying away from Rythian… I won't lie when I said I was pleased. She understood some of the systems and that half magic and half science was more powerful than just following one path… I laughed as she voiced this to me; she didn't understand why though. She didn't understand how unbelievably happy she had made me in that moment._

Kim paused. Duncan was… lonely. He seemed to sound a bit more like her Duncan. Blushing slightly at her thought process of 'her' Duncan, she looked at the next section:

_As she left though, my heart sank slightly. Suppose she returned to Rythian… and suppose he corrupted her… or if he discovered that she had been speaking to him… I was confused for a moment before realising that I just needed the company. That was all. I had arranged to meet with Rythian later today – when he came, he would be in for a surprise._

Kim frowned. The next few passages seemed more agitated in the way the previous paragraphs had been written – as if Duncan had been eager to quickly write everything he could remember down.

_I watched as Rythian entered the grounds and immediately inspected the block structure; as soon as he was within range, I activated the force field around it. My trap had worked! My mind turned dark however as he mockingly asked if every guest was treated with the same hospitality when they just wanted to talk. Why couldn't he be civil? I said he could talk from inside there - I knew immediately when he spoke of the old world being destroyed and that it needed "retribution" that it was wise for me to have him in the force field, and have one under his base; he was too dangerous, to bent on revenge. I asked if I could just say sorry and tried to defend myself by blaming it on Sjin… he didn't believe me. It had been worth a shot. _

Kim's mind was already racing with questions; why was the old world destroyed? Why did Duncan have to apologise? It didn't make sense; Duncan wouldn't destroy a world… not on purpose anyway…

_He didn't believe me when I said I wasn't as involved in the killing and exploding of people and buildings; I pointed out he was the only one who cared about it in an attempt to distract the fact that the majority of what he had said was true. Before I could stop myself I added that Zoey didn't care about it and that she had stopped by to see me that morning; he seemed to falter for a moment and I immediately regretted it; I didn't want to bring her into it, not really… I just wanted to make him hurt, before he could hurt me._

Kim was in shock… she felt nothing as she read on:

_I told him to get over it – it was in the past… but he wouldn't let it go though. I voiced that he was determined to continue the war; but he surprised me by asking that all he wanted was a promise that what happened in the old world would never happen again… I was shocked, but then he made it clear he was being slightly sarcastic as he pointed out the evidence that I didn't want the same, that I hadn't changed – that my castle would have bombs and nukes and things to destruct the world. I realised, remembering the nukes under his base, that he was slightly right. But I didn't really care._

_I sheepishly admitted to placing a nuke under his base and that he wouldn't be able to get rid of it – and that I wasn't bluffing. I laughed nervously and he took offence. He said that the actions I had taken, placing a nuke under his base and trapping him in a force field meant that he had underestimated me; he had expected better; I wanted a war. I tried to explain it was for security purposes but he didn't believe me. I said I wouldn't let activate it, that the detonator wouldn't go off – he pointed out that someone could find out the frequency or steal the remote and set it off without me._

Kim found herself nodding in agreement with Rythian – Duncan was a bit of an idiot for not realising that. Even she could have figured that out as a possibility.

_I will not lie, that had not occurred to me; and the fact that Rythian, someone of magic and no appreciation of science, had understood that, really angered me. I dismissed it as it not being my problem if it was set off – and that I would keep him as a lawn ornament; he uttered to himself the words I knew I'd remember for years to come "…I can't trust you; I can't trust her; I can't trust anyone… I'm on my own." At that moment I had the briefest moment of pity for him – but then he went haywire in the force field, destroying the ground beneath him to try and find a way out, failing. _

_"__Nice hole – now it's all horrible and holey… you've got to live here… you could have eaten grass… hopefully your magic will sustain you; have fun! I'm going to go to some more science!" I taunted him. I taunted him because I was more powerful than the mighty mage, I had trapped him, and he would never hurt me. I was safe. I could afford to be cruel._

_"__You'll pay for this Duncan."_

The next part had been added in a slower fashion, and seemed to have been added as an afterthought at a later date - the writing seemed slower, and the pen seemed to be thicker and heavier on the page.

_I remember laughing "yeah, good luck!" before flying away. If I had known that Zoey was watching and had heard that there was a nuke under her base… if I had known that Rythian would figure out a way to escape the force field… it's a regret I know I'll carry for the rest of my life._

Kim leant back and felt tears form in her eyes, and without knowing why, started to cry. Zoey was another unspoken name. Zoey, who seemed to be happy and kind and someone who could make Duncan happy in less than a day – Zoey, Rythian's partner it seemed, who knew there was a nuke under her base... as much as she wanted to Kim knew that she couldn't read the last pages she had. Not yet.

_Duncan is my friend. He is my partner _Kim thought to herself… she longed to know what happened next; how Rythian had escaped, what Zoey did next. What Duncan had done to Rythian's partner… _Not yet_ she thought. Her heart seemed to be screaming the words at her; 'not yet'. Realising it was quite late and how tired she was, Kim blew out the candle beside her and clutched the pages to her closely, still crying. It was only as she drifted off to sleep that she dimly realised why – something terrible had happened to those two people because of Duncan.


	5. A Fitting End

**AN: So, of course, the first Flux Buddies series has finished… but there is another one coming! So I'm going to try and wrap the old series up in the next chapter (so it'll be a bit longer) and then will start with the new series as best as I can! This means that this chapter is going to have a little bit of a rushed feel to it… so it'll be a bit weird at first, but hopefully it will go well ****J****I also have neglected to put the details of the nuke battle in place so will just start the next chapter with a brief recap of it because I am not even going to attempt to summarize both perspectives and events of that battle… ****J****Enjoy! **

Kim could barely keep her eyes open the next morning. She had woken in the middle of the night to hear herself screaming and whimpering, and she knew that it was because she didn't know what had happened to Rythian and Zoey. So she had lit another candle, and read on. And now she knew everything. She knew that Zoey had gone back to the base to re-join with Rythian, and that she had tried to disable the nuke, and that everything had had been blown up. She knew that Rythian had tracked down Duncan and asked for peace – Duncan had wrote this very strangely in the entry but she knew it was true. Duncan had completely ruined their lives… twice, it seemed.

Kim ended up endlessly hovering around, checking on the animals, watching the nukes being made. She felt uneasy. Rythian had been, ultimately, unable to protect Zoey. Duncan might not be able to protect her… or any of the creatures they had. She needed to make sure they were safe from the nukes… and, if it came to it, safe from Duncan. She was so deep in her thoughts that she didn't realise, when she drifted down to the lowest floor of Panda Labs, that she was no longer alone.

Seeing Duncan's wand charging on its stand seemed to shake Kim out of her thoughts. Duncan was back, she hadn't noticed. Where was he? Was he by the nukes? Would he set them off without her? Would Hat Films be completely and utterly destroyed, like Zoey had been? Did they really deserve that fate?

"No…" Kim whispered to herself, as her mind pictured the devastation described in Duncan's diary. She wobbled slightly and had to hold onto the workbench beside her to steady herself. "I can't let this happen… I can't let Duncan deal with this on his own…" she murmured to herself, and decided in that moment what she was going to do. She flew up to the main computer and took out her bag.

Meanwhile, Duncan was flying around the witch hut, looking for Kim. "KIM?!" he yelled, swooping and landing in the centre of the magic rings. "Kim?" he called, popping his head inside and finding no one there. All the animals were well fed and happy, so Kim must had been around here a while ago. Using the secret back entrance, he walked around Panda Labs, heading to the lowest level to collect his wand first, before heading up the floors, wondering if she was in their room. As he entered their bedroom, he cast a glance over at the empty beds and sighed. He could do with a quick nap after he found her… He suddenly noticed there were some pages of writing on Kim's bed… they looked awfully familiar…

"DUNCAN!" Duncan almost jumped out of his skin as he turned and saw a small, purple wild haired monster appear behind him.

"Kim? Oh my god Kim, are you alright? You look… well, you look like death!" Duncan added, momentarily forgetting his manners as he cupped her chin up and examined the dark circles under her eyes. Kim hastily stepped away, stubbornly folding her arms.

"I'm fine Dunc – but we've got a problem; we're completely out of gunpowder for the nukes."

"What!?" Duncan gasped, remembering emptying several stacks into the computer only a few days ago. "But it was full!"

"Well the nukes aren't making themselves and need gunpowder so seeing as you're all packed, you can go and get the gunpowder, right?" Kim smiled sweetly and Duncan knew at that moment, without a doubt, that Kim had taken the gunpowder.

"So… say you were trying to get rid of me somehow…" Duncan pondered thoughtfully, noticing Kim's smile waver momentarily before forcefully returning to her face, "…why would you want me to go?" He said all this with a playful tone, but inside he was worrying. Had he said something to her…?

"Honestly…?" Kim sighed and looked down at her feet… she looked so troubled that Duncan had to work very hard on not to squeeze her into a hug, and instead fidgeted with his fingers behind his back as he patiently waited for her to reply.

"I'm just a bit tired, and I enjoyed the peace and quiet and I have a lot I want to get on with by myself…" Kim started, as Duncan turned away from him, giving her a moment to relax and fix the expression on her face.

"So it has nothing to do with the pages which are on your bed then." Duncan's sudden change of voice forced Kim to take a step back as Duncan remained motionless, staring at the bed. He could make out some of the words from here. He could remember writing them. He could remember _thinking_ them. He could…

"Duncan, I didn't mean to read them…" Kim began, trailing off as she heard how pathetic she sounded. Of course she had meant to read them. They were on her bed. There was no way out of this. Duncan remained still.

"So what do you think of me then?" Duncan's voice asked, without a betrayal of any kind of emotion. Kim opened her mouth to reply as Duncan cut across her. "Am I not a monster? Do I delight in hurting people? What do you think of me Kim?" Duncan's voice progressed to a roar as he turned around and looked at her, the pain in his eyes evident, his breathing unnatural, as if he was choking on the air. Kim wanted to turn away but found she couldn't. She couldn't run.

"It wasn't you… you're different now..." Kim managed to whisper, watching the anger and pain die down into sadness as the scientist walked over to the sofa and sat down heavily, placing his head in his hands.

Running a hand through his blonde hair, he muttered to himself "But I haven't really changed… not really…" He looked up at Kim, his eyes unfocussed slightly. "I want to nuke Hat Films before they hurt us. I want to hurt people. I will be delighted if they are hurt to the extent they cannot hurt us. That is why I am doing it. I saw what Rythian lost; I'm not going to lose…" Duncan stumbled on the last word, desperately trying to finish it off the sentence.

Kim stood awkwardly until she was sure that Duncan wasn't going to add anything else. When she was sure, she stated slowly "I'm going to go and ask Hat Films to make a peace treaty with us, and see if they're interested. It's not too late. Not yet anyway. And we do need more gunpowder, by the way. I used up a lot of it by myself." As she fumbled in her bag for her portal gun, Duncan stood up and held onto her wrist, causing her to freeze.

"Kim, I…" he began but stopped as Kim wrenched her wrist from his grasp with a strange expression on her face. "We might need those nukes Duncan" she said firmly and marched through the portal and out of sight. Duncan stood there for a moment, filled with anger at himself, and half considered the thought of blocking the portal so she couldn't return. Struggling with the temptation to throw something into the portal after her, he paced angrily around the room.

"Fine!" he yelled pointlessly after her at the portal – sound didn't travel between them but he felt better for shouting anyway. "Go then!" He picked up on of the gohlems and threw it at the wall, dissatisfied as it merely bounced off and didn't smash, as he had hoped it would. He picked it up, noting where Kim had carefully crafted his name on the back of it. He choked back a sob as he placed it carefully back down, looking back at the portal.

"You, Kim. I don't want to lose _you._" Duncan said bitterly as he marched towards the stairs. He paused and leant his head next to the portal, momentarily comforted by the noise it made. "I didn't ever want to lose you…" Duncan sighed and turned around and walked to his bedside table. Within a few moments he had taken the pages and put them back in their original places, briefly staring at the words he had once written.

_How do I convince her that I have changed…?_ He wondered to himself, when an idea struck him. Fumbling through the pages, he finally found the entry he was looking for, quickly reading it over to check there were no damaging ideas or actions implied. He was just about to close it when he realised that he had written an afterthought at a later date, half concealed by bottom of the page being slightly folded over. Opening it, he read the words '_She reminds me of Zoey sometimes.'_

Duncan carefully tore out the line and held it in his hands, deep in thought. Yes… he understood it now. The pain and damage he had done to Rythian was because of what he had done to Zoey. Zoey had meant the world to him. He almost lost her because of Duncan – and could never forgive Duncan because of it. Duncan smiled sadly as he concluded to himself "Rythian completely loved Zoey." So maybe… that's how he felt about Kim.

_Well, almost…_ he thought to himself as he folded up the torn fragment and glanced at the portal. She was a right pain sometimes, and far too stubborn for him. She was also very noisy and chatty sometimes whilst sulky the other time. To say that she meant the world to him could be true… but there were hundreds of worlds, and the universe and stars to consider…

_You're in denial…_ a voice seemed to whisper in his head, but Duncan ignored it. He actually felt briefly at peace with himself for the first time in a very long time. Kim meant the world to him… no... she meant _this_ world to him. Smiling, he left the diary out for Kim to see on her return, and started to re-pack his bags. Time to hunt some creepers.

Kim returned several hours later, still fuming at the Hat trio. "I got the final laugh…" she announced as she walked through the portal "… we are going to blow them away, right Duncan?" She bounced into the bedroom and suddenly remembered how she had left it. "Oh…" she said simply, as she slung her bag onto the floor and listened for any movement in the house – nothing. Noticing the diary on Duncan's bed, she immediately began to feel panicky; but then she noticed that it was facing the portal and looked like it had been deliberately placed that way… maybe Duncan wanted her to read it now…?

"It can't get any worse Kim…" she said to herself as she walked over, noting the date on the entry. That was the day she had met Duncan! Kim's eyes widened as she eagerly picked up the diary, noting that it was a slightly short entry than the other two, but still full of writing:

_Well, she fell out of the sky. I still can't quite get over that! She began to talk far too quickly for me to understand, but I managed to word out that Sips had blown her up… bit like I had done with Rythian's base…_

Kim's eyes narrowed as she read this, but the next few sentences pushed it out of her mind;

_I introduced her to my castle – she was pleased with it and said it was better than Sipsco; I responded with thanking her, although I did point out there was some dangerous flux level problems at the moment, to see if it would scare her off. I assured her it was nothing I couldn't handle; it wasn't too dangerous. Having said that, I had to warn her about the door though, which would have instantly killed her. She sarcastically responded by saying about how pleased she was that she had gone to a better place from being on fire… She actually made me laugh, believe it or not._

_I wanted to show her the castle but she couldn't fly – instead of being annoyed, she took delight in that I could, and the plasma cannon, and the spaceship… although she did point out that it was highly dangerous. However, everything she saw seemed to awe and please her, as I explained various different science approaches; I offered to teach her some, and she agreed. I couldn't promise not to blow her up though (like Sipsco) and instead promised that if she __**did**__ blow up, she wouldn't be too badly hurt… and that I wouldn't do it deliberately – looking at her, I knew I'd keep that promise; I'd never deliberately blow her up._

_She also talked about getting revenge on Sipsco – so maybe that could be interesting; I think I will like taking her on as an apprentice; I'll give her a wand, teach her magic, teach her science. She shall be my companion and I'll look after her._

Kim smiled, tears glistening in her eyes; it a kind of weird, science like way, Duncan had really accepted her when she first met him. She glanced over the rest of the entry, which seemed so long ago in her mind, of her rushing about and constantly asking questions and reportedly laughing and cheering him up considerably. She noticed the page was torn slightly at the bottom, but took no notice of it. She moved her hand to turn the next page…

"Woah Kim!" Duncan's voice suddenly shocked her out of her reading as she glanced up in time to see Duncan's slightly red face as he quickly snatched the diary away from her. Refusing to meet her gaze, he said awkwardly "It's still a diary Kim, you've read the worst parts…"

Kim smiled innocently. "So… if I've read all the worst parts, I can read the rest?" she asked, waltzing up to Duncan and trying to take the diary back. Duncan held it above his head, quite above her reach.

"No chance… but honestly Kim, you know the worst about me now… can you accept that?" Duncan's voice came close to breaking at the end as Kim looked at him, searching his eyes for any signs of evil or faked guilt. Apart from the flux that had started spreading on one side of her face, she detected nothing.

"I tell you what, you'd better have got a lot of gunpowder, because Hat Films need to be blown off the face of this planet – I got their co-ordinates too to put in the missile silos…" Kim grinned wickedly as Duncan laughed.

"I'd better go and hide them, I reckon they know where they are…" Duncan said thoughtfully, wondering why Kim looked sheepish for a moment.

"So long as you don't set them off without me – I want to set them off together Duncan!" Kim beamed and Duncan had a sudden vision of all the nukes lighting up the sky whilst him and Kim laughed.

Duncan and Kim laughed at each other as they unanimously said "Let's go nuke Hat Films!"


End file.
